5 IKEA BILLYs Transform This “Wasted Space” Bedroom Corner
IKEA BILLY bookcases look great standing alone, but they also look great with a little trim and paint around them, made to look like custom built-ins. Christine Amorose Merrill’s (@cestchristine) IKEA BILLY hack totally illustrates this point. The BILLYs before didn’t look bad, by any means, but the after is breathtaking — especially for book lovers.
“I love to read, and I dreamt about having a reading nook of my own,” Merrill says. “We moved some bookcases and some plants over, but it felt like more of a wasted space.” That is, until they made the bookcases look built-in.
Paint and paneling made the biggest difference.
“The biggest step was to build the bookcases and make them ‘built-ins’ by adding the wood paneling and painting them all to match the rest of our bedroom,” Merrill says, adding that one of the biggest hindrances was waiting on enough BILLY bookcases to be in stock.
“Once the shelves were in, it already felt like such a more complete space!” The project took five BILLYs, and the paint color is Valspar’s Coastal Dusk.
“I continue to be impressed by how much painting something can completely change the look,” Merrill says. “Having the white bookcases next to our painted bedroom walls did not have the same effect at all!”
Merrill recommends really taking your time on a quality paint job. Bookshelf painting is “an exercise in both patience and precision,” she adds.
Furniture and accessories (and books, of course) completed the cozy nook.
“The final step was figuring out a good, comfortable setup for afternoon reading,” Merrill says. “I know the styling of the shelves will continue to ebb and flow through the coming years, since I love to display items we’ve picked up on our travels here, so it’s a fun ongoing project for me to rearrange things.”
Her main priority after the remodel was to find a comfortable chair that would fit her, two pugs, and a toddler. Merrill also added a pendant light, a vintage globe, baskets, a side table, and a hand-me-down rug.
“The thing that has made me happiest is that it’s not just a space for me to enjoy reading on my own, but it’s also really become a space filled with books that encourages a love of reading in my daughter as well,” she says. “ We filled the bottom baskets with books for her (mostly childhood books of mine that my mom saved), and she loves to come in here and flip through books on the chair on her own or have us both snuggle up so I can read to her.”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.